Sunday, June 1, 2008

paying someone esle to live your life

I wish I'd come up with this phrase myself, but indeed I did not. It came from my friend Laura last night when we were having a "double play date" the boys were running around being boys and we were catching up.

Laura is in so many ways my twin. Before we met out kids kindergarten teacher thought I was her one day after school and after we met I could see why. We not only look alike, but we talk alike, make the same gestures and have surprisingly similar personalities. More amazing than any of this is that we are friends and I really enjoy her company. Rarely do we truly like the people who are most like us.

So last night we are talking about a post I read for a household manager and how outraged people were that someone would be looking for someone to help them "manage their house" which included child care, errands etc. As a working mom I can respect why people would want to hire help for some of these things. After all I have a nanny and she on occasion helps me out with other things around the house in addition to helping with the kids.

That's when she said someone she used to work with said to her... you can pay anyone to live your life for you and we started thinking about all the things you can pay people to do for you... (in no particular order)

  1. personal shopper
  2. grocery shopping
  3. landscaper, lawn mower, gardner
  4. water your house plants
  5. dog walker
  6. car wash
  7. child care - nanny, daycare, babysitter etc
  8. personal trainer
  9. interior decorator
  10. home theater set-up
  11. computer set-up and maintenance
  12. house cleaner
  13. laundry
  14. tivo (keep us from wasting time on commercials and watching our show when it's on)
  15. someone else to do your scrapbooking
  16. stylist
  17. personal chef
  18. financial advisor
  19. chauffeur
  20. barista (why not spend $4 for someone else to make our coffee)
  21. ghost writer for your memoir

How many can you come up with? Leave your comments because I know there are more we forgot.

6 thoughts:

Anonymous said...

what happens if you take a pass on the list and eliminate all the things you find enjoyment in doing?

what's left then?

Tiffany said...

If the personal trainer can work out FOR me, I am totally in.

Thanks for posting the SITS button!

Melissa said...

Amen for a nanny! Personal chef too!

Unknown said...

Yeah, a personal chef sounds really nice!

McMommy said...

I know that post. :)

I didn't post that to cause controversey. Sadly, I live in a town where it is all too common to have "house managers" run your life and raise your children....and in 9 out of 10 instances, it's not due to the possibility that both parents work full-time.

I've attended mommy & me classes where the nanny participated with the child and the mom sat in the back and texted on her phone the whole time.

It's just plain sad to me, is all.

Kathy said...

I never was lucky enough to find anyone who wanted to be a Nanny for six...but having the Brady Bunch, I always asked for Alice for Christmas.